Mickey Champion

Born in Lake Charles, LA, powerhouse blues singer Mickey Champion has worked with the likes of <a href="spotify:artist:6nPKmEbQmR8jGZEm7ArOFX">T-Bone Walker</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:0WZ7IgzdjPvwFdjDjjuZm7">Little Esther Phillips</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:1YzCsTRb22dQkh9lghPIrp">Billie Holiday</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:4F7Q5NV6h5TSwCainz8S5A">Duke Ellington</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:1eYhYunlNJlDoQhtYBvPsi">Ray Charles</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:4VnomLtKTm9Ahe1tZfmZju">Jackie Wilson</a>, and many others in her long but unfortunately largely unsung five-decade career. Discovered in L.A. (where she continues to make her home in the Crenshaw District) by bandleader and ever-vigilant talent scout <a href="spotify:artist:5PGt6fQNjLKhYYeGLWKWcM">Johnny Otis</a>, Champion recorded several impressive R&B sides in the 1950s and early '60s, none of which established her as a household name. The wife of bandleader <a href="spotify:artist:02tMtF5FVucqAJW2TQB9ig">Roy Milton</a> until his death, Champion began recording again in 2000, releasing I Am Your Living Legend! that year, followed by What You Want in 2003, both on Tondef Records. She was the subject of a video documentary produced by Paul Vic and Oletha Rogers called Champion Blues, and in 2008 Ace U.K. issued her collected singles from the 1950s and 1960s under the title Bam a Lam: The R&B Recordings 1950-1962. ~ Steve Leggett, Rovi